Speaking of Highlander (I think I mentioned this on a podcast), the first movie was pretty much excellent. The 2nd movie retconned this whole thing about the Highlanders being aliens in a galactic civil war or some such shittery. So for the 3rd one they pretended that original sequel never happened and picked back up where the first one left off. It gives me tired-head to think about it.

Wasn’t there another franchise that ignored one of the sequels? Superman Returns sort of did that, acting as a follow up to Superman 2 and all.

So what sequels did you think were “one sequel too many.” Which movies ruined a franchise for you? What’s your X-men 3, or Star Wars Episdodes 1-3? Did the franchise recover, reboot or fade away? Robin! To the Bat-comments!

!!!COMMENTS SEEMED BORKED RIGHT NOW WHICH IS BORKING THE WHOLE SITE!!!
Wait it out. We can make it through this together. Wrap up in a blanket, stay dry and burn your clothes for warmth.We ARE going to make it out alive!

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Spider-Man 3. I wanted to walk out of the theater during the big dance sequence. I would say more but I complained enough about the movie back in May. The other films in the franchise (aside from Power Rangers villain Goblin in Part 1, but Wiol) were strong enough the franchise should recover. Hopefully it became obvious to Marvel and Sony that Avi Arad doesn't need to shoe horn popular characters into the franchise and jazz dance sequences don't belong in superhero films.

Halloween 5. Simply because they were too scared to build upon the kickass ending of the shockingly enjoyable part 4. I think Halloween is pretty much dead. I kinda enjoyed Rob Zombie's film but then he screwed it up with the Directors Cut release on DVD. I don't think I've ever hated a Director's Cut as much as I did that one (who the hell approved of the script and shooting of two morons raping a girl in an unrestrained giant psycho mass murderer's room).

If only Idol worked that way. At the very least the world would be rid of that many more useless pop crooners, and their life force could be harnessed by only one supreme pop crooner…. uh wait that could be bad.

But, come on, couldn't you have given Josh a long pony tail (you know, just kinda sticking out of the back of his head), and a katana…..

Spider-Man 3 is an abomination. It was the subject of my very first comic, but only after making that comic did I really contemplate how truly offensive it was. I would wager that Spider-Man 4 will be as bad or worse because 3 made fuck tonnes of money. That = "aint broke, dont fix it" in Hollywood.

Also, Rob Zombie is a good musician and a cool dude, but pretty much a terrible film maker. Enthusiastic, but terrible.

I left the theater thinking I liked them both. I wanted so badly to believe in the world they created in the first movie. I can honestly say I enjoyed WATCHING the 2nd one. It was pleasing to the eyes. It was offensive to the brain, ears and stomach. By the 3rd one I was just seeing it out of obligation. Had they never made a sequel we would all remember it as maybe the greatest triumph in geek moviedom ever.

Then there is the upcoming Batman movie (the Dark Knight). Honestly, I previously thought any attempt to replace Jack Nicholson as Joker would suck terribly, but after hearing Heath Ledger's name, I sort of changed my mind: He did look like he could actually be good as Joker. I am looking forward to the movie with big expectations.

It is a pity he will not be here to see how his Joker would be received.

Neo is learning to cope with superpowers, but something still bugs him. The whole human battery thing doesn't make sense for so many reasons. Morpheus leads Neo on a Alice-in-Wonderland journey through the Matrix and then offers Neo another blue/red pill choice. Of course Neo must know the "truth".

Turns out that Zion (World 2) is just another simulation and that all the people Neo has met are humans in World 3 jacked in to tutor Neo. Turns out Neo isn't human, but the first truly emotive AI. The goal was to raise an AI as human to avoid either AI-slavery or SkyNET scenarios. Trinity is alive, but not in love with Neo (that was a role).

Oh, and by the way, we need Neo now because we're getting our asses kicked by an alien invasion too subtle to see. World 3 Morpheus suspects that World 3 is also a simulation and that it is "Turtles All the Way Down" Neo's task is to hack World 3 to defeat the aliens.

<sigh>

Matrix was such a great movie and I think 90% of the fans could have written a better sequel than what was made. Joel, did you see Animatrix? That was worthy.

Ugh, I was so disappointed in Spider-Man 3. They more or less killed off (well, made it look like anyway) my all time favorite character from the Spider-Man series (Venom). I've always liked Venom a lot more than Spider-Man anyway, and to see how crappy a job they did on him, and how completely wrong they cast the part of Eddie Brock really makes me wonder if they even bothered to research the characters at all.

The whole point of Venom and Eddie Brock was that he was everything that Spider-Man and Peter Parker aren't. Where Spider-Man is the upstanding good guy, Venom is the dark hero (he only saves you if he likes you more or less, and kills his enemies without hesitation). Where Spider-Man is fast and smart, Venom is strong and dumb. Peter Parker is a shy skinny geek, and Eddie Brock is a body builder jock with an attitude. HOW THE HELL IS TOPHER GRACE CAST AS A BODY BUILDER?!?!?! What the hell where they thinking?</rant>

Also, does it count if the sucky movie came out first? I've seen some shots from the new Hulk movie and it actually looks like it might be good, but after the first travesty I'm a bit put off.

Oh, and lets not forget the batman movies between 3 (the last one that was bearable if only just) and begins (an amazingly good movie, but that's not so hard when you start over from scratch). Not sure if Batman Begins actually counts as a sequal in any sense because it's essentially an entirely new take on Batman from all the other movies.

I feel silly, because the first and second weren't great cinematic achievements either, but the third Austin Powers film just broke my heart. I was an average easily-amused 9-year-old then, but even I realised it. The first two were fun, at least.
Aw guys, this is really depressing somehow 🙁

Spider-Man 3 was quite disappointing. I'm not a fan of how they threw in so many villains, but I don't think that was why I didn't like it as much as I should've. Honestly, I think I'm just sick of Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. They're so… blah. Topher would've made a good replacement as Spider-Man, but wasn't a good choice for Venom. I appreciate directors taking new routes when it comes to the "same old story", but they really missed the boat on a lot of aspects with Spider-Man 3.

@Orclev:
"Holy rusted metal, Batman!"
"What… did you say?"
"The metal, it's… rusty… and full of holes."

And that he can't reprise the role in future movies in that series. Remember joker has always been a recurring character, but I guess you run that risk with any series, look what happened to the guy cast as Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies.

I am betting its going to be a really solid performance, but because of his tragic death the media is going to call it life-altering and god like. I wouldnt be surprised if there were some posthumous awards nominations.

Dude, Austin Powers 1 was a triumph in comedy. It holds up today and gets better with each watch. 2 was….ok….ish. 3 had its moments but was primarily a turd. Much like Waynes World 2 they assumed we would be satiated by seeing THE EXACT SAME JOKES in the sequels as in the original.

Aye, the first matrix was simply stunning and amazing. I literally spent weeks talking about it to friends, almost shaved my head for all but a top knot, and handing out red and blue pills in airports.

Reloaded wasn't as bad as the 3rd and final stake in the corpse that is the Matrix though. That's sort of like saying getting poked in the eye is better by castration, but my point rings true. The twins thing was a nice display of graphics, not to mention the whole car chase thing. It was really well done, but they seemed to forget 'oh yeah, sci fi movie, THEN action movie'.

But hey, at least thanks to the Matrix, we got to see a carnal horde of people that were wet and dancing suggestively to dance music. Oh wait, it's like a South Florida club…

To be fair, I also had a similar hair cut. Then again, i was in a swordsman phase.. so while some kids did the hot topic thing.. I did the black comfy pants, old fashioned wood sandals, and long flowing shirts with swords ^^

I don't really look on those times fondly though… it only really worked at Megacon, no where else.

I don't mind if they change the stories around a bit, so long as they're true to the characters, and hit all the most important plot points. The new IronMan movie looks like it's going to be pretty good, and I think they're sticking pretty well to the character and back story. No, he's not in Vietnam like in the original original version, but that's ok, it doesn't matter so much where he gets the injury, as that it's the shrapnel near his heart that leads to the development of the suit. I also like that they're sticking with him as kind of a stuck up asshole weapons manufacturer, and not trying to pretty him up or make him more likeable. Of course, without having seen the movie yet I can't say for sure they won't screw something up.

You (almost) had something there. Neo being an AI or an AI/human hybrid (the first) would have been interesting. The concept that he was the 100th Neo and it always ends the same way was total BS. Based on the first movie, it could have gone to series easily ($$$ permitting). I wanted to know much more about that world, but not what they eventually showed me.

I did see Animatrix. I really liked about half of it. The CG with Keith David was great, the "Kid" and the glitchy house were all excellent. The runner that deprograms himself freaked me out a bit.

Haven't tried the samurai look at the ….typically English/French ren fair. I'm the kid dressed as the bardic poet (oooo using a word to describe itself), that is usually tanked and flirting with the wenches… while my own wench is threatening to beat me up.

I do laugh at the people that dress up as Link and the like. Heck, Renfest was just here, I think last weekend was the last weekend though for it 🙁 have to wait till next year for more corsets and more 'Cleavage with every purchase!'

You know, I made the exact same assumption. He would have been a decent choice for Venom, although he did equally well as Sandman, to bad his good performance was ruined by the terrible script, and craptastic casting for Eddie Brock.

Okay since you brought Highland into this – I rented the newest Highlander flick, Highlander: The Source. The only reason I went against my gut and gave it a shot was because Adrian Paul was in it and I always liked him in the series. The movie is horrible. Not Highlander 2 horrible, but pretty fucking bad. The ending was decent and led me to believe the movie was written around it. Like there was a meeting where someone said: "It's gotta end like this, make the rest up." Has anyon seen the animated feature that was released some months back? Was it any good? Likewise, has anyone seen the recut/remastered Highlander 2? I can't see how it could be cut into something good, but the trailer I was for it on that DVD had me wondering.

Aliens. No, not Alien 3 (cubed), but that dreck Resurrection. As much as I worship at the alter of all things Whedon, Resurrection is the abomination best left chained up in the basement, and not in a turns-out-to-be-cool like Sloth from Goonies kind of way.

Now, I know it goes against popular opinion to actually be a fan of the 3rd installment, but it's one I actually liked. But, then maybe that also explains why I didn't mind the last Matrix…I'm certainly not very religious anymore but I don't mind the Jesus symbolism at the end of both movies (were Jesus to actually come back and advocate genocide to ones enemies is another matter entirely).

I have foggy memories of a Tim Burton Batman. Every time I try to bring up the memory of it I get the strong urge to go to a museum and splash paint on priceless works of art while dancing to a forgettable Prince song.

If we're talking about ignored sequels, I think Robocop is the all-time champ. We had the first movie, right? Then two sequels. In there was a cartoon that had nothing to do with the sequels (and was just another toy ad). There was a live-action series in the early 90s that ignored the sequels AND the cartoon, another cartoon that ignored the previous cartoon, the sequels, and the live-action series, and the recentish live-action miniseries that ignored the sequels, the cartoon, the live-action series, and the other cartoon. And aren't they talking now about a remake? But we all know the only true sequel to Robocop is Robocop Vs. The Terminator.

If James Bond, the Hulk, and Batman can be rebooted, that gives me hope for another shot at the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Keep the same cast, but get Edgar Wright to direct, and get the tone right.

Don't get your hopes up about the new Hulk. While Edward Norton might be an interesting Banner, I can't help but think it will suck. Plus, the fx studio crew is saying it's going to be pretty terrible. So…there's that.

Eh, I didn't mind the third one until the very end and the freaking TRAIN TIME MACHINE appeared. WTF? You can only time travel to where there are train tracks? No thanks! At least with the car, you could pretty much use any flat surface. And with the hover wheels, where you'd be going, you woudn't *need* roads.

Use that bastard locomotive to go to the future and steal a Tardis. That's where the time travel shit is at.

As three-logies go, I give BTTF a giant thumbs up. I love the first one, really like the 2nd and enjoy the third. It was odd but, along with Tombstone, it is actually one of my favorite westerns. I would like to add that I hate manure.

When you think about it, Doc Brown was a fucking asshole. The technology required to make a 4 tonne train fly, much less travel through time, could probably benefit man kind quite a bit. Nope, I want to meet Jules Verne. Suck it Earth!

That progression of events is mind boggling. Remember in the 2nd one where he goes nuts and the baseball team are robbing the futuristic VCR store? That always disturbed me as a kid. Like I thought the kids were being exploited and corrupted by the coach. It also creeped me out when he crapped baby food out of his back.

Anyone else having issues with Intense Debate today? Looks like I lost my prior post, so I'll attempt to recreate it here.

Aliens. I know, most of you will jump right on the 3rd installment and call it craptacular from that point forward. I actually liked the 3rd, kinda like how you initially were disgusted by Sloth chained up in the basement, but in the end turned out to be pretty neat. No, as much as I love the Whedon (all the kids love doing the Whedon behind the portables), Resurrection just needed to die a horrible death, like my soul did while watching that movie.

Now that I think about it, both Aliens Cubed (3) and Matrix Revolutions ended with the Christ imagery, what other movies (trilogies in particular) did that I wonder?

Yeah, the hulk was never an interesting character, although Bruce Banner had his moments. I think that was part of what made the TV series do as well as it did, it really didn't have much of the hulk in it, mostly it was Bruce running around, and the hulk only ever showed up once a show for about 5 minutes to rip things up and get Bruce out of a tight pinch.

I think of the hulk as a lot like lizard man, the actual guy is ok, and friends with most people, but when he transforms he's one of the villains (more or less). I think in a 3 hour movie, about 20 to 30 minutes of screen time as the hulk would be about right, although I have a feeling without any other characters it would be rather slow moving and boring, so yeah, a crossover with Ironman or someone else would be the best route to go.

Am I going to be stoned to death if I mention that I liked the bad ass Ripley-Alien hybrid? The fugly alien-human thing on the other hand well… yeah. Of course even before she was cross-bred with an alien Ripley was still a bad ass.

I actually enjoy the Tim Burton films for what they are, him taking the Batman universe and making it his own. I just like Begins the best since they worked to be faithful to the comics.

I really would have liked to see Burton's take on Superman. It's never too late for Bryan Singer to take that concept art and incorporate it into the next sequel. Give it the much needed edge that Superman Returns lacked.

I could never like Alien 3 simply because of how disrespectful they were to Newt and Hicks. Not to mention it was originally supposed to be about the Aliens reaching earth. I'm still holding out that someday Fox will be able to get their heads out of their asses give us a full scale war Aliens film on Earth.

I vote they let Whedon take another shot to make up for butchering his script.

I have to say I've never really cared for Superman. I think the only part of the series I've ever really enjoyed was when Superman was "dead", because we go to see a bunch of much more interesting characters. Superman is really just too good to make an interesting hero because pretty much the worst thing he has to worry about is that someone will find a chunk of some uber-rare rock that he's allergic to, or that there will be collateral damage from his fighting.

I really hope they aren't talking about a remake. All I can think is Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay, and Martin Lawrence as a jive talking Robocop. It chills my spine thinking about all the puns about being pimped out and wanting to get some gold plating that could come from that.

Would it be super-nerdy of me to point out the comic book reference? It's The League of extraordinary Gentlemen. In Volume 1, there's a photograph of a previous league, which included the guy from Last of the Mohicans.

And yes, Alien 3 has a mighty sexy shaved head Ripley. I'm don't usually play on her team, but shaved heads are yummy. Slimy smooth elongated Alien heads with extra mouths, not so much. They more likely find my head yummy instead.

Honestly, I think the only sequential franchise they ever got "right" was Back To The Future. Ghostbusters also worked, but we'll see what happens when 3 comes out (as a video game, no less). There was too much of a disconnect between the StarWars prequels and original trilogy to justify putting that in here…Lord of the Rings was a spectacular screenplay, but drug in moments and had bits where the acting was…weird.

Still, I'd have to say the worst ever sequel, hands down ad-infinitum would be Fantastic Four: Rise of the Surfer. I will never forgive them for going through with it without casting Galactus.

I dunno' man, Superman Returns was a large piece of crap. I mean, he didn't punch one thing throughout the entirety of the 2 hour ass-fest. The rule is that when you have superman you do whatever you can to allow him to beat shit up, you go further than creating large plot-holes to let that happen. I would have been satisfied if, after the 75 minute sequence of him lifting teh island, he was teleported to pluto to fight marshmallow-demons with pre-dispositions to spouting racist remarks… I'd watch the fuck out of that movie…

I was torn by Alien 3. I agree that the way they got rid of Newt and Hicks totally sucked after Aliens–disrespectful is exactly right. But for me, that thread of sadness was pulled taut through the Alien 3, and I found the ending powerful and touching: Ripley clutching/cradling the alien as it bursts out while she falls in the furnace.

Loved 3! It had ZZ Top! And Mad Dog Tannen! And Clint Eastwood's name! And Mary Steenburgen! And manure! Of course, it did have that "blank paper" moral at the end (which was a little like the manure), but it was great.

So I'm watching Reaper, one of the casualties of this TV season (most likely gonna get canned) and it's so obviously a holiday episode. There's decorations and trees, and it's retriggering my holiday depression.

I never thought about it, but Doc's rifle and train are quite steampunkish. I LOVE Tombstone. Every line in it kills me. I will sit in a burning building and watch it til the end, even if it means certain death.

I promise they will never let him make that Superman Movie. DC wouldnt allow anyone to creepify their iconic good boy. Supes is so boring. Honestly, if Tim Burton were able to make Batman today with modern effects, I bet it would blow his original effort out of the water.

The death of superman series was the first thing I ever read from DC. It really introduced me to their world because it featured nearly all of their heroes. I continued reading whichever book the cyborg was in. I also liked when Supes was turned into blue electricity for a while. I thought that was ballsy. Too ballsy I guess since they changed him back with no lasting repercussions.

I'll give you all of that except LOTR. I dont care how long it is, how it drags, or if it gets weird. Those movies, for me, constitute a nearly perfect entertainment experience. I get completely lost in those movies when I see them. Its so GRAND. You are exhausted when its over. Like youve just been through a terrible ordeal but somehow saved the world. If I had any negative comments it would be that The Two Towers wasnt as good as 1 or 3.

I just have no idea what they were trying to do with Superman Returns. As a "person" Superman is not interesting. I dont care about his internal struggle, because its so fucking fake. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. He has nearly infinite power. He would have overthrown the world if not the galaxy long ago. Instead they show a man with emo hair and an emo heart.

Actually AVP:R wasn't that bad. I like that they kind of went out and deliberately said "No one here is safe, see that little kid? Dead! See that character you think is one of the main ones and is totally going to make it? DEAD!". It did make it feel a little aimless, but I mean, you got a group of people on the run from aliens and predators, they should totally be dying left and right anyway. Plus I like the way they tied Wayland-Yutany (sp?) into the whole story line.

Honestly, here is the biggest problem with Spidey 3 – you can't have Parker Prance down the block ala Saturday Night Fever, then try to convince me he's gone 'dangerous' later when he screws with MJ via Gwen Stacy. Sorry Sony, but you can't play a character for comedy and then try to make me feel threatened or upset by him later. Do Venom seriously or do it jokey. Don't do it both (or half-assed).

Hmmm on a totally unrelated topic I just beat half life 2 episode 2. Now I'm so pissed I just want to kill anything that even resembles an advisor. Oh i found a way to relate it. Half life 2 was a better than half life. The next episode 1 was good but, too short and finally the last episode to come out episode 2 was pretty much the same except for the crazy awesome strider/hunter battles. So in conclusion children, this proves that sequals can have their ups and downs but, no matter what you can't deny that they shape the series to the fan's liking. Damn't thats not true at all. Well whatever I took the time to type this and I'll be damned if I'm gonna backspace it now.

I know that's how the stage musical or whatever is, but all Johnny Depp did was stare lovingly at his hands (knives, whatever) the entire movie. The one saving grace was the afternoon daydream sequence HBC's character did. The rest? Meh.

Or just stay true to the characters, which they were doing until the 3rd movie. Venom was never about comic relief (unless he ate someone's head in a particularly funny way). Neither was black-suit spiderman. It was about the struggle between power and corruption. How power is addictive and how you shouldnt lose yourself in it. I got NONE of that from the movie. Not the mention the dialog between harry and peter at the end. "Buddy" "Pal" etc etc. It was nauseating.

Le sigh. I can understand wanting to maybe keep it like fresh or something, but I will shed a tear (probably several, and maybe wail a little) when Tennant goes. I would watch that man make toast. Hmm, interesting theories on who's Who next…

I actually think that him pausing is the after effects of all the horse tranqs they gotta keep him on so he doesn't off himself by the 3rd time he's heard some untalented douche say that he deserves to go to hollywood

My Fiancee and I started referring to him as super-pussy after that movie. It really was an absolutely terrible movie, although that's not particularly surprising considering the past movies and the fact that Returns went through what, something like 12 rewrites and as many directors.